Sachin described by others

Sachin is my favourite player and has remained so since I started watching him. The world loves him and no wonder why - he remains humble and mature and is getting better with age.

Here is a collection of what people have said about him!

I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Televisio...n and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...hi compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel! in reference to Sachin Tendulkar.
- Sir Don Bradman


India's fortune will depend on how many runs the little champion scores. There is no doubt Tendulkar is the real thing.
- Sunil Gavaskar

He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling.
- Richie Benaud

Sachin is cricket's God!
- Barry Richards

Harder he works, the luckier he gets.
- Ian Chappell

Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow nothing is a problem.
- Geoffrey Boycott

He is Sachin Tendulkar. I hope he stays Sachin Tendulkar. We need a new player, a player in his own way. He has a technique which is the hallmark of a great player. Everything indicates that he will be a great player and I am sure he will prove me right. Reminds me of Barry Richards.
- Eddie Barlow

He is a perfectly balanced batsman and knows perfectly well when to attack and when to play defensive cricket. He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease.
- Greg Chappell

I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazingplayer.
- Shane Warne

I think he is marvellous. I think he will fit in whatever category of Cricket that has been played or will be played, from the first ball that has ever been bowled to the last ball that's going to be. He can play in any era and at any level. I would say he's 99.5% perfect.
- Viv Richards on Sachin Tendulkar

Today, he showed the world why he is considered the best batsman around. Some of the shots he played were simply amazing. Earlier, opposing teams used to feel that Sachin's dismissal meant they could win the game. Today, I feel that the Indian players, too, feel this way.
- Wasim Akram

Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.
- BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar

I Was fielding in the covers Tendulkar came out to bat in his debut Test at Karachi. I still remember Waqar Younis was at his peak form at that time. Tendulkar tried to drive Waqar through the covers off his very first ball in Testcricket but was beaten all ends up. But I walked to captain Imran Khan and told him 'this kid looks very good' and Imran agree with me.
- Abdul Qadir

I have watched a lot of Tendulkar and we have spoken to each other a lot. He has it in him to be among the very best.
- Sir Garfield Sobers

Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours.
- Michael Kasprowicz

If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard.
- Dennis Lillee

I still think Tendulkar is the best batsmen in the world ahead of Steve Waugh and Lara.
- Glenn McGrath

What we (Zimbabwe) need is 10 Tendulkars.
- Paul Strang

Sometime back I had written a piece that said that Sachin's the master and Lara a genius with his head high up somewhere. That's it!
- Peter Roebuck

Sachin is an attacker. He has much more power than Sunny. He wants to be the one to set the pace. He has to be on top. That's the buzz about him.
- Jeff Thompson

Tendulkar is the most complete batsman I have stood behind. I saw the hundred in Perth on a bouncy pitch with Hughes, McDermott and Whitney gunning for him he only had 60-odd when No 11 came in. I've seen him against Warne too.
- Ian Healy

Sachin's the best. I've had this view since I saw him score that hundred in Sydney in 1992. He's the most composed batsman I've ever seen.
- Mike Coward

The pressure on me is nothing as compared to Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin, like God, must never fail. The crowd always expects him to succeed and it is too much pressure on him - Mark Waugh
Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal.
- Brain Lara

His life seems to be a stillness in a frantic world... [When he goes out to bat], it is beyond chaos - it is a frantic appeal by a nation to one man. The people see him as a God...
- Mathew Hayden, on Sachin Tendulkar

It was one of the greatest innings I have ever seen. There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don.
- Steve Waugh

You might pitch a ball on the off stump and think you have bowled a good ball and he walks across and hits it for two behind midwicket. His bat looks so heavy but he just waves it around like it's a toothpick.
- Brett Lee, on Sachin Tendulkar's batting, 1999

Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us..., even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives.
- BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar

Evening

What is it in this evening that makes me restless?
What is it in this evening that I don't want to lie and rest?
My mind travels here and there, to the past and to my childhood years!
I am not happy but I don't want to cry
I am not sad but I don't want to smile
I am filled in void and void is filled in me
My mind races to those playful years
The garden of my childhood years
Laughing and playing with friends around
Catching butterflies and plucking the flowers
I can see our childhood feet, running and hiding in the bushes near.
Today these friends are scattered near and far, like those petals we threw in the air
One word from them brings back a smile but those years are gone for ever and ever!
I remember myself a little child and my mum tying my ponytail with ribbon white
The hurried look on my face and the love in my mother's eyes
And dad would bring home a cookie new or a fancy lolly to see us happy
These were days of my growing years
And even today mom and dad finds new pleasure on little things
But those days are ever gone
I know not why my mind wanders to those years and there is some void which fills the air

Sydney

Sydney! The name of it brings me smiles and sighs to some extent. I have endless memories belonging to the place and not sure may be the first impression is the one that remains forever! That might be the reason I love that place!

On my my first day me and my roomie had dinner cooked by her and then we went out for a walk. A walk to Darling Harbour, one of my favourite places on the earth. I don't know how many times I have walked the Pyrmont bridge and everytime I found it beautiful. I loved the cold wind blowing, I loved the setting sun and I simply loved to walk by the Harbour or sit still and watch the people!

Should I ever go there again I know that Darling harbour would always be on my list of places to go.

On my first visit to Sydney, a friend and I thought that we should go for morning walks. One such morning, we walked and talked, a couple of guys drunk said something like Indians girls being pretty and passed a comment that they ate fish and were good at ignoring. Gosh, I just controlled my laughter and then when they left us, I gave my laughing nerves full freedom.

There are so so many memories of Sydney that when I remember I update this. Random thoughts actually! One evening as I was returning from work with a friend, it started raining. We were to get off at the next station and I stood near the door. As the door opened, I took my head out to watch if it was still raining as though it was the door of my house and I would decide whether to venture out or not! My friend then reminded me that we had to get off and we quickly ran out. Once we were out, we could not help laughing at my absent-mindedness :-)

So many times I have played the guide and Luna Park was one such place where I visited don't know how many times. The rides and the fun was too good to ever forget. A friend of mine and I went to Luna Park once and the man at the gate was perhaps very happy to meet folks from his country that he did not swipe our tickets, allowed us the ride and asked us to enjoy another.

Another time we were a group fo 7 or 8 people visiting the park and none except three of us had the guts to ride the most dangerous one. I was scared too but seeing little children so much at ease made me think that I could do it too. For a while I screamed and shouted with the fellow riders and then I felt that it did not seem to end and I just closed my eyes and prayed for a safe landing!!!

I had my scary experiences too, the first one being me and my rommie waiting for a friend at Town Hall and I think it was almost 9 pm when someone approached us and demanded money. My roomie was so scared that she almost reached her purse when a couple passed by us and saved our day. They asked the intruder to get away and waited till he was out of sight and made us so comfortable that we felt safe.

On another occasion we were returning from Watson Bay if I remember right, and on the train I had just turned around and a lady took offence.I don't yet know what I had done to earn her dirty looks but that incident did scare me to hell. A similar incident repeated when a guy with long hair and shabby looks just sat near us and kept tapping his fingers on the window pane. And it took only a line in Hindi to my friend who was traveling with me, to make the guy angry and call us names. We both kept quiet and almost remained motionless until the time he got away.

I always think I will do Sydney once more in my lifetime and till then I will re-live the memories many more times.

Rain

Raindrops on my window pane will lull me to sleep tonight, oh I wish I was with friends tonight telling stories of years bright...oh I wish I could watch a movie tonight over a cuppa tea and some pleasant laugh...but theres work for the morn and the rain to lull me to sleep tonight...

Colours say it all

Today is Feb 13 and I thought if I could find a colour that I would wear to work tomorrow. So, I found the following which is rather interesting:

http://www.weeksupdate.com/2009/02/valentine-day-dress-code-which-colour.html

Continued....
Also, some time back someone spoke to me about the colours that should be worn on particular days of the week. I don't remember all of it except for Red on Tuesdays, Green on Wednesdays and Yellow on Thursdays. The one I try to follow is the Thursday one but Wednesday seems to win as well as green is the colour of my cupboard now. Actually my cupboard is more pink than green but I don't know the day for pink except for today, Feb 14 when I take special care not to wear it as I don't want to send the wrong message :)

On Holi, I received the following message from a friend:
Red for prosperity
Green for happiness
Blue for longevity
Orange for progress
Pink for friendship
..........
I am reading 'The Winner Stands Alone' now and here's wht Paulo Coelho says bout colours:
White signifies purity nd integrity
Blck intimidates
Red shocks abd paralysis
Yellow attracts attention
Green calms everything
Blue soothes
Orange confuses

Well!

One odd day

It's my strength that you know of
It's my toughness that you can see
It's my calm that you know
You can have my shoulder to rest and cry
You can see me smile when you feel down
You can hear me soft when you want to rest
But there is that one odd day
When I can break, when I am lost
On that very odd day
I want you to read my mind
I want your shoulder to cry on
I want you to be just by me.

What is in a morning cup of tea or coffee?

Hi, good morning! Ready for a cup of tea? I often wonder what a morning cup of tea does to you or me that we wouldn't start our day without it? For many years, I have not drunk tea even though I belong to a cold place and had frequent attacks of tonsillitis or sinusitis. But my years in Bangalore have made me a tea drinker anyway. It's not about being in Bangalore but it is about being in a group that one takes to tea or coffee, I guess.

Back in Bangalore, I remember we use to have our tea glasses in hand and stand by the balcony and chat for hours before we thought it was time to do some studies.

I am not addicted to tea as such but even at work, it feels like I should have my first cup of tea and then start working. Sometimes I get my cup and its cools down on my desk just as it was without my realizing and I really don't have an urge to get another cup but the feeling of getting your first cup must be satisfied!

I miss it where I am now as a tea friend does not exist here. Earlier my tea- friend and me would just check our morning mails and tasks and then get together for a cuppa. It would be the same in the evening when you felt exhausted and then looked forward to that much needed tea break. Machine tea never tastes good but its just that little chat over whatever kind of tea that did wonders.

I remember in Sydney, the mornings would be filled with the coffee aroma and even though not much of a coffee drinker myself, I just loved it! I didn't feel the same ever in London even though people gathered around coffee machines but that never tasted or smelled like how it did in Sydney. Well, well...I might be just a bit partial.

I will never say no to a cup of tea or coffee as anything could happen over a cup of coffee...(stealing the tag line from Cafe Day I guess). and Starbucks opening its chain in India is certainly news too!

And I love my tea in a special way, not many can match my expectations and sometimes I fail big time too. That perfect colour, that perfect dash of sweetness, not too much of milk and neither too strong is hard to come by...